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Celebrities Not a Big Draw - New Nonprofit Study Out by Elaine Fogel I’m devastated. After having worked with the likes of actor Leslie Nielsen, baseball star Shawn Green, and Barenaked Ladies’ singer Steven Page – and hosted events with speakers such as actor Henry Winkler, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, and others - I am disappointed in the latest Cone study which shows that donors don’t necessarily support organizations that use celebrity spokespeople.
Of the 1,022 American adults surveyed, only 15% said they would be influenced by celebrities in deciding whether to support a charity. Family members have the highest influence at 77%, friends 64%, places of worship 60%, co-workers 40%, and companies 30%.
However, the study does show that 28% of respondents selected “celebrities or companies that I admire” when deciding the factors that are very or somewhat important in their decision to support a cause, charity or nonprofit.
What’s interesting is that word-of-mouth from family or friends, newspaper articles, events, and advertising were the top four effective ways that organizations can reach people with a specific call to action. My take? Celebrities attract attention. It’s up to nonprofits to use the other effective means of communicating their messages once celebrities open doors.
Take my experience with Leslie Nielsen. In one of my previous professional “inside” positions, Mr. Nielsen served as the organization’s honorary campaign chair. We used his image on campaign brochures, ads, TV spots, posters, and his voice in radio spots. He was the guest of honor at corporate, donor and community events. Did it help the organization raise more money? Maybe and maybe not - it’s hard to tell without paying for research. But, what it did do was get the organization’s message out there. TV and radio stations played the spots frequently as public service announcements, likely because of Nielsen’s celebrity. Corporate people, many of whom have umpteen charitable events to attend, selected ours, likely because they got to rub elbows and have their photos taken with Nielsen. The large corporation that donated its golf tournament revenue to our organization made a three-year pledge - a precedent - because of a couple of reasons, one of which was Nielsen’s participation. The CEO had Nielsen in his foursome that first year. So, will donors support charities more because of celebrities? The study says it’s low on the totem pole. But, I believe that celebrities do open doors, help organizations gain increased participation at events, and help them build increased brand awareness. Can I prove it? No. This is based on my anecdotal experience. Maybe Cone can do a study on this topic. © 2007
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Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies |
